St. John’s Church

St. John’s Church is a Lutheran church in the heart of Riga Old Town. It is a parish church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia.

First served as the monastery and chapel of a Dominican abbey and mentioned in the ancient documents daring back to 1290. The building was used for a time as the city’s armoury, until it was taken over by a Lutheran congregation in 1582.

The legend says that during the building’s construction two monks wished to become saints and were bricked into the southern wall where met their final hours there, fed through the window grate by Riga residents. There is still a cross-shaped hole in a wall where both bodies lie.

In case you want to relive and solve the ancient mystery of two monks, a new live quest is available for a group play: Alchemy Quest: Mystery of Riga Monks